Cal, USC Go in Opposite Directions

USC has backed itself into a corner.

To avoid a losing season and retain any hope of playing in a bowl game, the Trojans will have to beat at least one team ranked among the nation’s top 10--No. 10 California today at Memorial Stadium or No. 3 Washington next Saturday at the Coliseum.

Because Washington is the stronger of the two, USC would seem to have a better chance to beat Cal.

The Bears, though, have reversed roles with USC. Cal, long a steppingstone for the Trojans, is hoping to attract a major bowl bid, and USC is fighting for respectability.

Cal is 6-1 overall, 3-1 in the Pacific 10 Conference.

USC, in danger of finishing with a losing record for only the second time in 30 years, is 3-4 and 2-2.

“It’s definitely a change,” USC linebacker Matt Gee said. “But you could kind of see it coming with Cal. You could see they were going to be good.”

Picked to finish among the bottom two in the Pac-10 last season, Cal wound up 7-4-1 and played in a bowl game for the first time in 11 years.

The Bears beat UCLA, rallied to tie USC and defeated Wyoming in the Copper Bowl.

This season, they are off to their best start in 41 years, ranked among the top 10 for the first time in 23 years.

All but mathematically eliminated from the Rose Bowl race when they lost to Washington two weeks ago, 24-17, the Bears still hope to play in a New Year’s Day game, perhaps in the Sugar Bowl.

Sugar Bowl officials are said to be considering Notre Dame, Penn State, Miami and Cal as potential opponents for the Southeastern Conference champion.

“We’re very pleased,” Cal Coach Bruce Snyder said. “Some of the games have been awfully close, but the thing that our team is doing that maybe the (Cal) teams in the past have not done is, they’re playing extremely hard and playing the entire football game in that fashion.

“That has really helped us, obviously, in a couple of close games.”

The Bears needed last-minute field goals by Doug Brien to beat Arizona, 23-21, and UCLA, 27-24, but they have maintained their reputation as perhaps the cockiest team in the conference.

USC cornerback Calvin Holmes shared a conversation he had Sunday with Cal’s Brian Treggs, a senior wide receiver and Holmes’ former teammate at Carson High.

“His first words were, ‘You guys are sorry,’ ” Holmes said. “He told me that they’re not going to settle for just beating us, but they want to blow us out, too.

“He probably means it, too.”

Cal is averaging 40.1 points and ranks third in the Pac-10 in rushing offense, passing offense and total offense.

Quarterback Mike Pawlawski, a senior from Troy High in Fullerton, has completed 63.4% of his 205 passes for 1,685 yards and 14 touchdowns and ranks second in the Pac-10 in passing efficiency.

Tailback Russell White, a junior from Crespi High in Encino, has been slowed by an Achilles’ tendon injury, a hip pointer and walking pneumonia but still leads the conference in rushing. He has carried 162 times for 727 yards and nine touchdowns.

Treggs, Cal’s all-time receptions leader, ranks third in the conference with 31 catches.

However, the Bears have made their greatest improvement defensively.

Last season, opponents averaged 428.5 yards against Cal, which ranked ninth in the Pac-10 in total defense. The Bears’ turnover margin was minus-eight.

This season, they have given up an average of 358.3 yards and have a turnover margin of plus-15.

“We’re much faster than we have been in the past,” Snyder said. “We’re quicker. We’re not as big, but we’re faster, and I think we’re creating more problems for offenses.

“Consequently, the turnover ratio is much to our favor, whereas in the previous four years, we were at zero or in the minus column.”

Trojan Notes

Scouts from the Sugar, Citrus, Fiesta, Hancock, Freedom and Aloha bowls will attend the game. . . . USC is 11-1-1 against Cal since 1977, 26-4-2 since 1958. . . . In last season’s 31-31 tie at the Coliseum, Cal pulled even with 1:22 left on a 10-yard touchdown pass from Mike Pawlawski to Brian Treggs but failed to pull off an upset when Robbie Keen missed a 43-yard field goal attempt with four seconds left.